Mike D wrote:Supercheap is said to switch to PRA next year. This will be the 4th PRA car or will it take over for Bottle-O?

PepsiMax is said to be scaling down to one car, with the other taking up SuperCheap backing. I believe Chaz will adore the SuperCheap colours but am not 100% sure. I think Bottle-O will be back next year, it is more down to who will be driving it at the moment.

Tim Blanchard will switch from Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport to Brad Jones Racing next season, completing the Albury-based team’s new line-up.

BJR has today confirmed both the signing of Blanchard and the retention of Jason Bright, who continues with the team for a seventh season.

Blanchard slots into the #21 Holden currently campaigned by Dale Wood, who has left to join Nissan Motorsport.

The announcement follows last week’s confirmation that Tim Slade will replace the DJR Team Penske-bound Fabian Coulthard in BJR’s #14 entry.

Twenty-eight-year-old Blanchard has two full-time V8 Supercars seasons under his belt, competing with Dick Johnson Racing in 2013 before linking with LDM this year.

Blanchard says he’s looking forward to learning from his experienced team-mates next season.

“I’m pretty excited to join Brad Jones Racing next year, they are proven race winners and have a lot of history in racing,” he said.

“Jason Bright has extensive experience in the sport and I was a team-mate with Tim Slade in Formula Fords.

“I’ve got history with those guys and am looking forward to working with them again.

“Working in a family team environment will be great. I think it will be well suited to my personality and the way I like to go racing, I think it will work really well.

“We’ve got a long family history in motorsport; same as the Jones family so being associated with a family team is good.”

Team owner Brad Jones says that Blanchard, who carries backing from family company Cooldrive, has the potential to improve on his modest results in V8 Supercars to date.

“I think Tim has a great racing pedigree, he is a third generation driver and his family have been around racing their whole life,” said Jones.

“I’m very excited that he is joining the team next year and I think he will fit in well with the team we have here.

“Looking at Tim’s history he was a state and national karting champion, won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2007, travelled to England and was the runner up in the Formula Ford Championship there.

“Tim has been improving all season with LDM and we are really looking forward to working with him to continue his progression up the grid in 2016.”

Mike D wrote:Blanchard is bringing Cooldrive with him to BJR. I am sure that helped as GB Galvanizing will more than likely be gone, or going to Kelly Racing with Wood.

Smart play by Brad. It's his third car. He is just trying to keep it on the track. One cannot expect much success out of it.

That''s exactly right, Mike. Sadly talent alone is not enough to secure a drive in motorsport anymore & there are not enough seats for good drivers without budgets. You have to make ends meet first & foremost and that means taking on pay drivers. Almost every multi-car team in pit-lane has somebody bringing a budget to get a seat. The good news for BJR is that Blanchard is one of the better pay drivers (not mentioning any names Wall & Wood).

kennymiesta wrote:At least they wont have a bloke there who is going to take out the other teams cars anymore. I think Wood hit the BJR cars more than any other car on the track

It's a win-win situation for everyone involved then, kenny. BJR get a better pay driver, Kelly's/Nissan can top up the budget & Wood now has three team-mates to run into!